Ignition system for explosion-engines.



PATENTED OOT. 29i 1907.

R. VARLEY. IGNITION SYSTEM FOR EXPLOSION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED APB-5. 1907.

2 SHEET8-SHEET 1.

SE SHOZ HM git names NQ.869,601. PATENTBD OCT. 29. 190?. R. VARLBY. IGNITION SYSTEM FOR EXPLOSION ENGINES;

APPLIOATIOX FILED APB.5.1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

t NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE...

LIGIIARD VA RLEY, OF ENGLEWOOD NEW JERS Y, ASSIGNOR TO THE AUTOCOIL COMPANY,

A CORPORATION OF NEW J IGNITION SYSTEM FOR EXPLOSION-ENGINES Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 29, 1907.

RICHARD l, VARLEY, a citizen of the lfnited States re ing at Englewood, in the county oi llcrgcu and Vented itc oi New Jersey, have in and useful linprovcnienls-in Ignior, and exact description.

s to ignition systems in which and a. magneto geuemlor or dynamo 2 sources of current. vIn systems rut source has its own particular 1 should be rigidly complied with in dynmno ignition is generally se. or coil or coils which are caused ark by merely a single opening w primary circuit at a positively im kin-g lover or kickoff. The lynarno or magneto makes it cult rupture accomplished in between non-fusible contact armed with very great sudden- Letthe single spark produced is ant :0 meme perfect ignition On (he ngle sparks obtained by breaking f circuit when batteries are used, are, not .ii out as the'hattery has little or no t-Qt mauy'sparlrs instead of a single nut-(l hy:.tlre use of a trembler or he observed that the timing is not cn I ence of special circuit control- "Arty ignition with a tremble) coil anally .the beginning of the current or. the rrcmbler beginn to act. In the last milieu continuesduringrhe entire current llow in a continuous spark cascade which ceases when thc'priin ry cur ent. is broken at the usual circuit controller. 1i. clear. therefore, that the ignition oi the ham s considerably earlier in the engine cycle are provided. to prevent this. In a prior alien l have shown means to make use of the l o usual circuit opening lever or kick-off for completing the ha? y circuit by an additional stop or contact which lnnils its outward throw. This arrangement lfpcliitc ry succssiully in practice, completing the battery circu t at about the same instant that the dynamo (-ircui l is broken. It is necessary, however, [0 have the cams and parts properly proportioned and made to avoid ihe shock of impact of the lever against the back contact setting up vibrations which might interfere with the proper completion of the battery xplosion-l'lngincs, cl wlnch'the ioll dynamo ignition with a" non-vibrahe termination of the primarycurq.

circuit. In carrying out the present invention I pro vide means to wholly overcome this practical dim-- cult r at the same time securing all the requisite and desirable functions and characteristicsof a dual ignition system in which the time of ignition is not disturbed by changing from one current source to the other. A further feature of the invention lies in the fact that one single coil or set of coils is employed both for the battery and for the dynamo, means being provided by which fibrator action is secured in one case and non-vibrator in the other.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a sectio 21 View of a circuit controller embodying the principles of my illvenlion; this section is taken. on the li 3; Fig. 2 is a similar section taken on th of Fig. 3; Fig, 3 is a sectional view on the of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is'a diagram of the circuits and connections.

Referring to the drawings in which like parts are designated by the same reference sign. 3. indicates a box or casing'in which all of the parts are received and operativcly supported. This casing is mounted on a fixed support 2, by means either studs 3, and spring pressed washers 4, which coopera e with ICU, ate slots in a flange 5 of the casing in the. usual way which need not he described or shown in detail. 6 indicates a shaft journalcd concentrically in the bushing 7, oi the casing 1, and which rotates commensurately withthe speed of the engine. This shaft is generally known as the halftime shaft.

" The casing 1 has an annular ring or bed. -of icslulat- -ing material the interior surface 9 of which is coaxial with the shaft 1;. There are two banks or es of segments 10 andll embedded in this insulating ring 8. Fig. 1 illustrates the upper series 10, while Fig. 2 shows the lower series 11. It will he noted that the segments 11 are larger than the segments 10. In practice the segments 11 are made with an angular ex ent of 809, while the segments" 10 cover 40. These figures am; of cou se, merely practical values which ,r'naybewaried at will. The purpose of haying the segmenguof one series longer than those of the-otlfer will lateuiof. fully appear.

Contacting Vin-l1 the series of segments 10 there is a spring irnpelledroller 12, and a similarroller 13 engages the segments 01' the series 11. Both of these rollers 10." are carried on arms 14, pivoted on a common hub 15,. on the shaft 6, and spring impelled outward therefrom by the springs 16. The relational the two hanks or series qijsegments and theirrespective rollers is such that the'roller 13 has trayersed 30 or 40 on the long segments 11 at the instant when thcroller 12 is entering upon a short segment 10. T he purpose of this relation will later more fully appear. While I have the casing 1. The cam lever 18 is pivoted exteriorly of the casing 1, but carries a roller which enters the casing, through an elongated slot 20, in the bottom thereof, so as to fall in the pathof the cam 17.. The lever 18 constitutes the circuit breaking leveror kickoff having for this purpose a' contact screw 21, support ed on the lever 18 -by-insulating bushings 22. Mow. able contact 21 engages 'a'fixed contact 23, supported by an arm 24, projecting from the, casing'd'. By this 7 arrangement of a lever 18 'ext erior.. of'the casing l with a roller projecting through a slot in the casing to engage the cam therein, it is'possible to keep the contact points 21 and 23 clean and-fre9= fitimthe oil'and ignition system. ,In Fig. 4 is shown a diagram of circuits illustrating" an arrangement employing four non-vibrator coils.

grease which is contained in the ga slli g' l for the 'purposes'of lubrication. v i

The circuit connections'are made with'the various segments 10 and 11 and the contacts 21 and 23 in any desired way. I have shown the segments provided with studs 25 and 26, of which 25 are combined in a; common circuit by the metallic ring 'or band27. The studs 26 have nuts 28, which constitute binding-posts.

The kick-off contacts 2 1 and 23 are joined by'fiexible wires toany convenient binding post or supporting point (not shown:)' v i The above constitute the: essentialfeatures of the circuit controller or commutator. This apparatus may be used in'various ways with a coil or coils to secure proper circuit controlling and timing for a dual 1) denotes a-small supplemental or auxiliary vibrator or trembler which causes the rapid interruption across a condenser ofcurrent flowingtherethrough in a manner well understoodby those skilled inthe art,

which need no t be described- The coils are shown at G, the battery at B, and an ordinary magneto gen erator or dynamo at 'D. S is a switch which may be' located on the dash, or, at any'convenient point, A connection is made from the generator D, thrtfiugh wire Z, and vibrator contacts 23,21, and wire"? to one point 29 of the switch. K'is the condenser, bridging the contacts 21 and 23. The battery B has onelterminal' n connected to the common ring 27, of the segments 10, while its other, terminal '12. is connected to the switch contact 30, through the vibrator 11. m .is a common connection from the coils C to the switch arrn 31. m, m, "i and m are connections from thecoilso to the various segments 11. It is evident that the segments 10 and 11 are grounded by the rollers 12 and 13 passing thercover, these rollers being supported by metallic connections from the half time shafit 6.

The operation is as follows: Supposing the switch arm 31 to be resting'on the contact 30, circuit is made from battery B, wire n vibrator 1), switch arm 31, wire m, first 'coil 6, wire m. to segment 11 and roller 13 to,

ground. The other terminal 'n of the battery is simul-- formed a' can1'17., which coiiperateswith the cam lever 18, pivoted o'n taneously grounded by the roller '12 niovingin the di iec'tion of the arrows-and passing onto a segment 10,--

The circuit of the battery is therefore complete and the first coil 0 acts to impel a cascade of sparks through its connected plug under the action of.the vibrators," which causesthe primarylcurrent to be pulsating or 'intermittent in its action. 'It will be. noted that this action commences at the position shown at Fig, 41mm roller 12 is just passing on to the segment 1Q; The ac'- tion continuesuntil the roller 13 passes off of its segment v11. ,The roller-l3 is-so positioned with respect to the otherirollerand the various segments that it has vtraversed'a certain distance, hay}- 30 or 40 on its seg-: rnent 11 before roller 12 engages a segment 10; in other;

words, the battery ignition commences when roller 13 has traversed about half the angularextent of the segj ment over which it is passing. I will nowass'ume the.

switch lever 31 to be moved onto the contact 29. The battery is now entirely out of action, being: open cir cuited at the point 30,-but'the dynamo is connected for operation as follows: through wire l,'ki'c k-off contacts 23, 21,'wire l switch arm 31. wire m, first coil 0','wire m, segment 11, and rolli"13,to ground, thereby com pleting the circuit. It will be noted thatthe cam 17 is just on thepoint of engagingthe roller 19 so. that the kick' off contacts 21, 23, are on the point of beingiseparated. When this separation occurs, primary current of thfefcoil C is broken, and 'a single spark is produced from the secondary thereof. Inasmuch as the coil was energized-by a dynamo current under these circum-' stances the secondary discharge will bea powerful .one, althbugh only a single instead of a multiple dis charge. The circuit rupture is accomplished between.

the contacts211and23 of non-fusible alloy, and th e separation is positive and abrupt by reason of the.cam im--. polled lever. K These features are-importan'trequisites- I i ase of dynamo orxrnagneto ignition, on account of the large self inducti n of the circuit and the comparatively heavy curr pt which flows at the moment. I

. ofthe primary break. 1

There is a further and extremely important requisite in connection with dynamo or magnetoignition, and this is'attained in harryin'g out my invention; as'foli lows: As above stated, the conditions in Fig; 4 are those at the instant of firing, and th's is true for both the battery' and the dynamo or magneto. Thebattery circuit is on the point of completion through a vibrator which causes an immediate ignition spark, and the d y-. I

name circuit is (in the point of rupturethrough the kick off lever which also produces a single ignition spark,

lie

but a powerful ignition will not be obtained from the 7 z' magneto or dynamocircui t; unless time has previously been given for the current to build up or incrcase to its full value. The'time required for this is comparatively with a battery and-vibrator oritrembler' eoils.- On account of these. two factors it is desirable to have an appreciable interval, commonly known as the chargingperiod, during which the dynamo pr magnelo circuit is completed through its coil before such circuit can be broken to obtain the spark required. This preliminary perioddu'ring which the current flows unintcrruptedly .During all this time the current is therefore flowing uninterruptedly through the primary circuit for one of the coils which is thereby fully charged or magnetized to the point where it will produce a hot spark. It

-will be understood that the cam 17 is so shaped as to make the circuit closing period of the contacts 21 and 23 at least 30 or 40 of rotation of the half time shaft.

The coils therefore operate as nonvibrator coils with the dynamo or magneto and have 30 or 46 of rotation of the half time shaft in which to become charged. 0n the other hand, they act as trembler coils with the battery, and have 30 or 40 of angular rotation in which to produce a cascade discharge. Finally, and of maximum importance, the initial discharge with the dynamo or magneto after the charging period, is ex actly co-incident'in time with the initial discharge due to the trembler or vibrator action. These requisites are all which are required in a dual ignition system, and they are all very important ones in practice.

In the above description I have referred to the generator D as a dynamo or magneto. It is to be understood that any form of mechanical generator may be used, either of the type having permanently magnetized fields, or that having a self energized electromagnetic field. By the term dynamo I therefore do not desire to limit myself to any particular type but ish to include either the permanently magnetized or sell exciting or separately excited forms.

What I claim is: 1. In an ignition system for explosion engines, a single circuit controller permanently connected to the primary circuits oi! a plurality of induction coils, a dynamo circult including a kick-oil, a battery circuit including segments. and a switch for completing either or said last named circuits through said circuit controller and its permanently connected coils.

2. In an ignition system for explosion engines, two

banks of segments, the segments or one bank being longer than those of the other, a kick-oil, a dynamo circuit including said kickoff and the long segments to the exclusion of said short segments, and a battery circuit including said short segments and the long segments to the exclusion of said kickoff.

3. In an ignition system for explosion engines, a pair of banks of segments, separate means rotating to engage said segments successively, one such means being in contact w.th the segments of one bank earlier than the other means with the segments of the other bank, a bat tery circuit completed by the segments of the second bank, a dynamo circuit, andmeans for interrupting said dynamo circuit at the instant when said battery circuit is adapted to be completed.

other bank, a dynamo circuit completed through the segments of said first named bunk, means for interrupting said dynamo circuit. and :1 battery circuit adapted to be completed through the scgmcrits or the second bank simultaneously with the operation of said interrupting means.

6. In an ignition system [or explosive engines. two banks of segments, a plurality of coils having their primaries connected to the segments of one bank, a battery having one terminal in a common circuit with the scg mcntsot the other bank, menus for grounding snid segments successively, the first named segments being grounded earlier than the second segments. a dynamo circuit, menus for completing said battery or dynamo circuit through said first named segments, and cnlfrcly sopnrnte' means for interrupting said dynamo circuit at the instant when the segments of the second hunk are grounded.

In witness whereof, I subscribe my signature. in the presence of two witnesses.

'RICIIARI) V.\lllil l\.

Witnesses \VALDO M. CIIAIIN, Mar Bun). 

